A knitting machine is known, comprising a row of hooked needles which are each disposed parallel to each other and which are arranged so as to be reciprocable in their axial direction. By virtue of such reciprocating movement, each needle forms a loop chain in a respective warp thread which is suitably guided to the respective needle. The simultaneously formed loops in the warp thread link with a common weft thread or two common weft threads, which were previously laid adjacent to the hooks of the row of needles. Repetition of the operating cycle comprising laying the weft thread or threads, and forming the loops in the warp threads and linking same with the weft thread or threads, makes is possible to weave a fabric in a predetermined pattern.
In a known knitting machine of this kind, the weft thread is laid by means of a weft thread guide which is carried by a transversely extending carrier bar. The bar is reciprocated in its axial direction, that is to say, transversely of the machine, but this reciprocating movement is generally of only limited extent for example one or two centimeters, so that this loom can be used to produce only very narrow ribbons or bands. Although this disadvantage of limited operating movement can be overcome by weaving a plurality of ribbons or bands parallel to each other, with the respective weft threads being laid by a large number of weft thread guides which are reciprocated simultaneously by the carrier bar, this results in a cumbersome piece of machinery which suffers from a slow speed of operation, and this impedes effective use of the machine.
On the other hand, increasing the length of the reciprocating travel of the carrier bar is not generally possible, firstly because this would further reduce the speed of operation of the knitting machine because of the inertia of the bar, and also because such an extended bar could be a danger to an operator operating the machine insofar as a substantial length of bar would project out of the machine in the limit position of the bar.